Rachel Hunter Bio: Early Life, Net Worth, Children & Husband

The gorgeous beauty Rachel Hunter is a former model, actress, and now yoga plus meditation teacher from New Zealand. She started early as a model and took a different career path.

Did you know she is one of the world’s most photographed international cover models?

Hunter has been active in the fashion industry since she was 16 years old. Likewise, being featured as a ‘Sports Illustrated’ model, Rachel became famous and gained huge success at international levels.

After her successful career as a model, Rachel then flourished as an actress. Aside from being a model, Hunter is also involved in philanthropy works every now and then.

She is a staunch supporter of the Born Free Foundation and a supporter of the Breast Cancer Campaign.

After the life-changing event of her mother’s death, Rachel found herself lacking meaning in her life. She then went to India and started her Yogic journey.

As of 2024, she is a yoga teacher and travels all around the world for her yoga ventures.

If you want to know more about Rachel and her life, read the article till the end. From her personal life to her professional career, get to know everything about her here in the article.

Quick Facts

Early Life, Parents, & Education

Rachel Hunter was born in Glenfield, a suburb of Auckland, New Zealand, to her parents, Wayne Hunter, and Janeen Hunter, as their second child.

Aside from her parents, Rachel has a sister named Jacqui Hunter. When she was 15, her parents divorced. 

From a young age, Hunter loved ballet so much that she worked at Swenson’s ice cream parlor to pay for her point shoes.

Hunter’s dream of being a ballet dancer was crushed after her diagnosis of a rare blood disease. Her mother suggested a modeling class, but she hated wearing dresses and also lacked confidence.

On one of her daily runs, she was approached by a local photographer, and her modeling career started. She was later invited to New York and signed by ‘Ford Models.’

As for her education, there is no such information.

Age, Height, & Body Measurements

The New Zealand native was born on September 8, 1969, which makes her 54 years old as of August 2024.

Her star sign is Virgo, and people under this sign are believed to be hard-working, passionate, and somewhat a perfectionist.

The gorgeous former model who got success from an early age still looks vibrant and oozing with charms in her 54s.

Rachel is 5 feet 11 inches (1.80 meters) and weighs around 64 kg (141 pounds). Thanks to her proper diet and yoga practices, she has maintained a healthy physique.

Added to that, Hunter looks absolutely stunning with her long blonde hair and vivid blue eyes.

Rachel Hunter & Her Modeling Career

As we have mentioned, an agent discovered Rachel when she was 16. After signing a contract with Ford Models, she landed a job with Cover Girl Cosmetics and became their spokesperson.

By 17, Hunter was gracing the cover of magazines like Vogue, Elle, and Cosmopolitan. Since Rachel was quite young, she then refused the offer to pose for ‘Playboy Magazine.’

Hunter also became the face of Tip Top Ice-Cream in New Zealand and was even the “Trumpet Girl.”

However, her appearance as the Sports Illustrated swimsuit model in 1989 brought her significant success.

In 1994, Hunter appeared on the cover of Cosmopolitan and the “Dream Team” cover of Sports Illustrated’s annual swimsuit issue, along with supermodels like Elle MacPherson and Kathy Ireland.

In April 2004, Hunter agreed to pose nude for Playboy. During her career, Rachel appeared on the cover of numerous magazines, including Vogue Italia, Australia Vogue, American and International editions of Elle, and Dutch Harper’s Bazaar, to name a few.

Apart from Ford Models, Rachel was also linked with the management of Select Model Management in London and Chadwick Models in Sydney.

Rise To Prominence As An Actress

Apart from being successful as a model, Rachel is also known for her work as an actress. In 1985, the New Zealander made her debut in an advertisement for a New Zealand Ice-Cream brand.

With them, she promoted their “Trumpet” ice cream. Likewise, Hunter guest-starred in a 1997 episode of The Drew Carey Show.

The former actress/model then appeared in numerous independent movies, including the 1999’s A Walk In the Park and 2000s Two Shades of Blue.

After that, she appeared in the award-winning indie film La Cucina as a lesbian cook giving out relationship advice.

Following that, she made a brief appearance as a sexy mother in Dennis Dugan’s The Benchwarmers.

Then Hunter appeared on a 2005 celebrity episode of Lingo where she and her partner Trista Ren made $30,000 for charity.

Rachel is also an ambassador to The Born Free Foundation and later established the Rachel Hunter Lowland Gorilla Fund.

Some of her appearances in productions include Confessions of a Go-Go Girl, The Perfect Assistant, Piranhaconda, and more.

Aside from that, Hunter starred as a judge on New Zealand’s Got Talent from 2012 to 2013.

In 2015, she fronted her own television series titled Rachel Hunter’s Tour of Beauty for TV One. As part of a series, she traveled around the world and discovered their beauties.

Net Worth, Income, & Salary

Rachel Hunter is a former professional model and actress who has worked for numerous magazines. She has accumulated a net worth of $60 million from her successful career.

Not to mention, Hunter is best known for her appearance in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issues.

Back in 2004, Rachel was paid exactly $1.8 million to pose nude for Playboy magazine. Gorgeous to boots, she was high in demand during her prime years.

Likewise, Rachel also became the spokesmodel for the Scottish lingerie line Ultimo. There she won a celebrity episode of Lingo and won $30,000 with her partner, Trista Rehn-Sutter.

Now, she has chosen a different path and leads a simple life as a yogi in the foothills of the Himalayas of Rishikesh, India.

Who Is Rachel Hunter Married To? Husband & Personal Life

As a former model and actress, Rachel has no lack of love and admirers her way. In a way, Rachel had a colorful youth where she lived her youth days to the fullest.

In the late 1980s, Hunter used to date the famous musician Kip Winger. Despite dating Kip for a couple of years, she ended the relationship abruptly.

As Winger stated, their relationship left him heartbroken. Right after her relationship with Winger, Hunter started dating Rod Stewart, who was 24 years older than her.

He was a rock star and played for a Los Angeles nightclub. After dating for three months, the two tied the knot at the Beverly Hills Presbyterian Church in Beverly Hills, California, in December 1990.

Together they have two children named Rene Stewart (1992) and Liam Stewart (1994).

Sadly, even that relationship did not last long. After eight years of marriage, in January 1999, both Stewart and Rachel called it quits, and their divorce was finalized on November 2, 2006.

After that, Hunter started dating the Canadian NHL Ice hockey player Sean Avery. The two were in a year-long relationship back in 2004.

But soon after that, she moved on and dated Jarret Stoll, who was 13 years younger than her.

Deeply in love, the two were sure to tie the knot. Jarrett even proposed to Hunter in 2008 whilst accompanying Hunter to New Zealand. They were soon to marry on August 14, 2009.

However, several weeks before their wedding days, the wedding was called off by Stoll.

Mother’s Demise & Her Yogic Journey

During her stay in India, while she was traveling for her show, ‘Tour of Beauty,’ she gained a different perspective on life as she witnessed different cultures, beliefs, beauty, and food.

Later, she lost a gem of her life and was left with a void in her heart. During her last moments with her mother, Rachel asked her mother, “What do you regret, Mum?” To which her mother replied, “I regret not being + doing me! Being fully who I wanted to be!”

Those final words from her mother hit her hard and she embarked on a path of self-realization.

The former model and actress took her plane to India and started her yogic journey. While she had been practicing yoga for 12 years, she wanted to peel away the grief on a cellular level.

Rachel has completed over 500 hours of yogic training and has achieved different certifications. Per her blog, she never went to India to teach, but how life unfolded, and now she is a certified yoga/meditation teacher.

Social Media Presence

The former model/actress and yoga/meditation teacher is quite active on her socials. Her Instagram feed guides her fan/followers to have a different perspective on life and gives a virtual tour of her spiritual journeys.

You can find her on Instagram under the handle @rachelhunterx and on Twitter @rachelhunterx.

Instagram: 133k followers

.@SadhguruJV answers a question about why people are not conscious by their own nature, explaining that if you raise the intensity of life, you will naturally be conscious.#SaveSoil #savesoilsofia
Action Now: https://t.co/z6MmqMf5nE#ConsciousPlanet pic.twitter.com/wYb0KiAS8K

— Conscious Planet #SaveSoil (@cpsavesoil) April 19, 2022

Twitter: 20.2k followers 

Popularity

The former model gained popularity in her youth after being featured in the issues of top magazines and now living her life as a yogi.

The above graph gives brief information about the popularity of Rachel Hunter based on Google searches in the United States over a year.

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